Computing devices routinely need to communicate with input/output (I/O) devices in an industrial process control and automation system. However, some computing devices in an industrial process control and automation system may not be able to communicate with various I/O devices, such as when older I/O devices are not electrically or logically accessible by newer computing devices. As a particular example, there may be a need in some circumstances for a particular computing device to interact with a specific I/O device, but the computing device may not be able to access the I/O device because of board design issues or other problems.